The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 2005
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ★★★ 2005 (PG)
Douglas Adams' absurdist sci-fi classic finally makes it to the big screen. When the Earth is demolished, Arthur Dent (Freeman) hitches a ride off the planet with Ford Prefect (Def), a writer for the HGTG, a Fodors-esque guidebook to the universe. Arthur and Ford fall in with Zaphod Beeblebrox (Rockwell), the sublimely dense President of the Galaxy, and his girlfriend, Trillian (Deschanel), in their quest to find the Ultimate Question to life, the universe, and everything. The script's slavish devotion to Adams' text weighs down certain scenes, making them sound more like audiobook recitations, but Jennings does a praiseworthy job of bringing the author's eccentric vision to life. The cast is uniformly strong, particularly Rockwell, who gleefully chews the scenery as two-headed egotist Zaphod. 110m/C DVD, UMD . GB US Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Sam Rockwell, Zooey Deschanel, John Malkovich, Bill Nighy, Warwick Davis, Simon Jones, Anna Chancellor, Albie Woodington, Jason Schwartzman, Dominique Jackson, Jack Stanley; D: Garth Jennings; W: Douglas Adams, Karey Kilpatrick; C: Igor Jadue-Lillo; M: Joby Talbot; V: Alan Rickman, Thomas Lennon, Helen Mirren, Stephen Fry, Richard Griffiths, Ian McNeice.